First, remember that Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson met with congressional investigators Congressman Darrell Issa and Senator Charles Grassley last July 4 to discuss Fast and Furious, against DOJ recommendations. In a letter to Eric Holder, they noted that his “cooperation was extremely helpful to our investigation.”

Next, remember that two ATF agents who were less than forthcoming during a congressional hearing were recently promoted.

Now, understand that Melson wasn’t “fired.” He was “reassigned” from running the ATF “to the position of senior adviser on forensic science in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Programs.”

“Senior advisor”? For those who’ve worked in the corporate environment, there was a special place for people who couldn’t be fired outright. Upper management would perform one of their “reorganizations” and give said person a “promotion” to manager of “specialprojects.” Curiously, this position never had any subordinate positions. They were a kind of “advisor” who may or may not be consulted on any issue. Heh, heh.

Next, Holder needed a fall guy somewhere in the main DOJ hierarchy:

In Phoenix, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley, who oversaw Fast and Furious on a day-to-day basis, was reassigned from the criminal to civil division.

And of course, let no good deed go unpunished:

Also in Phoenix, three out of the four whistleblowers involved in the case have been reassigned to new positions outside Arizona. Two are headed to Florida, one to South Carolina.

Holder probably hopes throwing people under the bus will satisfy investigators that “something is being done.” Hold your representative’s feet to the fire until they give Holder the four “I”s: Investigate, indict, impeach, imprison.

Former civilian disarmament supporter and medical researcher Howard Nemerov investigates the civil liberty of self-defense and examines the issue of gun control, resulting in his book Four Hundred Years of Gun Control: Why Isn’t It Working? He appears frequently on NRA News as their “unofficial” analyst and was published in the Texas Review of Law and Politics with David Kopel and Carlisle Moody.

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1.
Bugs

It’s amazing that these people, like stereotypical Japanese businessmen, go to so much trouble making up BS stories like this just to save face. Especially considering that everyone knows what really happened: Melson got his ass handed to him on a platter for publicly embarrassing the bureau by f-ing up Fast and Furious. Why do they bother going through the motions anymore?

DOJ wants you to think Melson was in charge. But considering the evidence that assistant AGs were involved, and the other evidence of emails to DC bureaucrats, I won’t be satisfied until Holder is gone. At the least. But committing seppuku on CSPAN would do.

I recognize you were sticking with the Japanese theme in your joking replay, Mr. Nemerov, but still I must disagree.

I want Holder to go and take his boss and his boss’ lying party with him.

This is a bigger scandal than Watergate but the same newspapers and news outlets that were in orgiastic glee at taking down the Republican Nixon have fought tooth and nail to misrepresent this story. They, too, should go. Betraying the trust to cover up a conspiracy to subvert human rights is too big a story to allow un-indicted co-conspirators to escape.

Considering the potentially toxic nature of this whole affair to the Obama administration, I wouldnt be surprised if when the real crisis of the economy is no longer eclipsing this story, one is manufactured to eclipse it. In the mean time the apparatus of ‘fast and furious’ is being dismantled and hidden away.